Abilolo Writes: Why I Left Alan Kyerematen - Unfiltered

For a Human Development Advocate, one with extensive field and administrative experience into various local and international development projects, my journey into this political fray was not born of personal ambition alone, but of a profound conviction in the need for a new paradigm in Ghana’s politics, especially seeing the persistent order of lip service paid to the ever widening inequality gap. The ethos of which were very much espoused in the founding principles of the Movement for Change!

A conviction that saw me burn bridges to very helpful relationships in the New Patriotic Party, to pursue what was right for Ghana first at the time, at the expense of my private gains. My commitment to this cause, predated the formation of the “Movement for Change.” As a devoted activist, I served as a Pro-Alan Social Media Crusader within the NPP, founded the Alan Rangers, and as a Columnist, I consistently used my pen to expose the status quo and the mishandling of party affairs under President Akufo-Addo’s leadership.

It was from this track record of unwavering advocacy that I received the personal call from the Honorable Alan Kyerematen himself to help with his vision to front-load dynamic young people on his Presidential campaign with the “Movement for Change.” I answered that call not for personal gains, but with Ghana at heart. I was subsequently entrusted with critical roles at different pivotal points: I served as a Technical Advisor for Field Operations, the Coordinator for Rapid Response and Agenda Setting, a Frontline Communicator; involved in mainstream media, stakeholder and community engagements, and the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator.

Furthermore, to ensure the message reached the youth, I mobilized resources and with the help of two help mates, Agabus and Samuel Sarpong, started the Afrafranto Radio Online, a platform that received Alan’s full blessings and became a vibrant studio for our campaign. His delight from the first visit remains an inspiring memorial! It then became a profound tragedy that this brilliant initiative had to be shut down under bizarre and disappointing circumstances, central of which was an allegation of poor media quality by people who felt they deserved the Honor of creating and running a radio so loved by the principal. Events like establishing a new studio by these critics later, proved the gossips that led to the closure of the very beautiful Afrafranto studio was out of envy and evil sabotage by these elements who had the ears of Alan, within our own ranks and could not tolerate the prominence everyone placed on the Afrafranto Radio Online, over their uninspiring YouTube channel they had been struggling to sustain. You would recall the “Mo Ntie Alan” show with great media personalities like Wɔfa Adakabre Frimpong-Manso started from the studio of Afrafranto Radio Online.

My commitment was not just in title, but in tangible, painful sacrifice. I recall a pivotal trip to the Ashanti Region by the field operations, where I sacrificed my BMW for the campaign; an ultimate performance vehicle I had built to my taste from scratch; a 1995 E34 fitted with a 2004 X5 double venus engine. On the day of a crucial team meeting in Kumasi, my front tyre mysteriously came off completely on the Ridge Condos stretch. I painstakingly fixed it myself as drivers passed me by. The car sustained extensive damage; its suspension scratched the road for some 20 meters, the radiator was destroyed leading to chronic overheating, and I also endured multiple tire bursts on the pothole-ridden roads. I gave my very best, including the car I loved, until I had to let it go for a pittance to fix a Toyota Hilux I had obtained from one of my bosses, to help my assignments. This was the price of my commitment.

Yet, how was this sacrifice met? It is a tragedy that Alan, such a brilliant man with an enviable reputation of technical competence is surrounded by Personal Assistants who do not have Ghana at heart, but are driven by their own greed and evil machinations to drive away everyone they deem a light and a threat to their dark dealings.

Sadly, the man Alan Kyerematen cannot be excused from blame in light of these revelations about his Secretariat. Knowing his reputation as a thorough and detailed leader who micro-manages affairs, he must be the ultimate architect of this exclusion. He is undoubtedly the one empowering his PA, Dr Nana Yaw Adutwum, a man whose malicious deeds were detailed to him repeatedly, to continue running his affairs. To keep such a person in a position of power after such a catastrophic failure is not just a pardonable mistake, but a deliberate choice that reveals profound disregard for the very people who bled for the cause.

It would interest you to know for months, I have sought a simple appointment to meet Alan to discuss some of these issues raised in this press statement and my decision to stay or not if nothing is done, but his PA has consistently claimed it is “not possible.” This very same PA had the temerity to call me, not to inquire about my well-being, but to demand the return of the vehicle I had personally received from Alan. The response to my plight was one of sheer utility, confirming a deep-seated culture of disdain for people, the obsession with utility over humanity, and dishonor for persons they work with.

In the face of all manner of misrepresentations in what accounted for our abysmal performance in the 2024 general elections, I conducted a thorough and widely circulated post-mortem upon engagements with a number of key actors in the movement. I detailed the strategic missteps, the organizational failures, and the need for genuine internal reforms. I hoped, I prayed, that these lessons would be learned. Instead, the very same reasons for our failure, and more, were not only ignored but are now being institutionalized. Driven by people who thrive on bitterness and sarcasm, whose only energy comes from the fumes of resentment and foolish talk in the media.

What was once a noble citizen movement has become a cynical experiment; led by those who weaponize reform to feed ego and vendetta. They now call themselves the United Party. But unity cannot be built on deceit and afterthoughts! It is built on truth, respect, and genuine purpose. Today, I can say without equivocation that the United Party is neither united nor purposeful. It is a gathering of convenience of unforgiving people more interested in destroying others than in rebuilding Ghana out of conviction.

As stated in my Postmortem, belief in the person and achievements of Alan alone, can never be enough to win at national elections. The masses must buy into this belief for victory to be realized, and it takes concerted efforts and a great deal of resources. Execution, alignment, and consistency are what drive victory. And on many of those fronts, we faltered. In the following paragraphs, I reiterate some key reasons I believe caused us to perform poorly in the elections.

1. The Neglect of Youth-led Innovation:
One of the most critical missteps was the marginalization of youthful energy and ideas. It felt like there was this team of older advisors with the final power to validate plans, so opposed to Alan’s vision for a youth-led Movement. In their struggle to stay relevant with the introduction of a young and fresher force, they would stop at nothing to find faults and when they did, amplified it to make nonsense of day and night toils of these young people done even voluntarily. Time and again, young people brought forth bold, brilliant campaign strategies rooted in the digital and sometimes unconventional realities of this generation. Yet, instead of integration, these ideas were sidelined, dismissed as distractions or misaligned with some “main plan.” When strategies needed financing, young people were told to “find a way.” When proposals did not perfectly mirror the premeditated roadmap of these old gods who would often assert how long they had been around, they were tossed out. This stifled creativity, demoralized young contributors, and left a huge vacuum in the campaign’s connection with Gen Z and millennial voters.

2. Financial Constraints and Crushed Morale

Politics requires resources, not just for optics, but for sustaining the engine that powers a movement; its people. From regional coordinators to polling agents, many functionaries operated on personal sacrifice for far too long. Promises of support often turned into silence and sometimes, disrespect from aides to Alan. Field teams struggled, not for lack of commitment, but for lack of sustenance. Without consistent logistics, passion turned to fatigue. Zeal turned to resignation. A lot of people had to devise ways like ranking assignments and meetings with recourse to their ability to fund themselves or receive some campaign funds you could not be certain of. We lost die-hard young people like Adenta Kumi, Fred Opoku, etc. partly because they just could not take it any longer. In the end, the Movement lost not because our ideas were weak, but because the mission became too heavy to carry without fuel.

3. Disorganization and “Kokofu Ball” Politics

Internally, our campaign suffered from a culture of favoritism; what some mockingly call “kokofu ball.” Capable hands were overlooked in favor of loyalists and friends to the secretariat. Here is the thing: those entrusted to manage itinerary of the candidate and disbursement of resources (the secretariat) saw the void in the absence of a campaign manager and hence, arrogated so much power to themselves to do almost whatsoever they set out to do. In the scheme of things, you would have to be in the good books of this sect to have your way. Talent was often traded for proximity. Teams were frequently reshuffled, assignments changed mid-course, and many competent operatives got sidelined and left in the dark or replaced with less experienced loyalists yielding without question, to either the old team or the secretariat. What was quite clear is, the old team was always aligned to the secretariat. They scratched each other’s back as we would casually say in local Ghanaian parlance to describe a typical symbiotic relationship. This created friction, disrupted momentum, and fueled needless rivalry.

4. Abuse of the “Need to Know” Rule

To manage information flow, Alan instituted a “need to know” structure; a sound principle for protecting strategy and alignment. However, this was hijacked. Rather than enhancing discipline, it was weaponized to exclude key actors. Crucial information was withheld not for security but for control. There were countless instances in the campaign cycle where key persons the public would assume could answer for upcoming events would only see updates on Alan’s social media pages like all other regular persons in the populace. Those who could deliver results were often left out of key decisions. The secretariat would pick and choose who shows up at events even against instituted teams any would naturally require answers from. Adhoc teams were set up to manage resources for most big events leaving out teams with core mandate to execute and oversee such events. There were the big spenders who only surfaced when there was a big budget to work with. An order that disincentivized those working and sustaining the campaign as volunteers. As a result, duplication of efforts, poor coordination, and frustration became daily realities. This particular reason should serve a great preamble for the next.

5. Overinvestment in Optics over Substance

Thanks to the big spenders! We spent millions pulling crowds. Beautiful events, impressive turnouts. But we failed to convert those crowds into a lasting grassroots army. The volunteer registration, onboarding and follow-up exercise that caused the big-bang effect for the movement, was discontinued chiefly because of crude internal sabotage from the big spenders who had no penetration points in the airtight plan and transparent budgets, to blow so much. Hence, instead of building structures across constituencies and strengthening local networks, we over-relied on events for visibility. When the time came for ground operation; recruiting and deploying polling agents, we were disorganized, late, and under-resourced. Many agents did not even receive their allowances on time. In some places, their absence allowed for vote tampering, and that cost us dearly. There were instances where key operatives of the movement voted, but the results came out zero; due to the absence of our polling agents. A situation that was recorded nationwide.

Following these reflections, I made practical recommendations aimed at rebuilding the movement with integrity, inclusion, and accountability. Unfortunately, those insights were not only ignored but rather met with maligning, distortion, and vilification of us who dared to speak truth to power. Instead of reflection and reform, there was a doubling down on the same attitudes that caused our failure.

It is within this context that I find it both necessary and responsible to clarify that I am not, and have never been, a member of the so-called United Party (UP). Any claims or insinuations to the contrary are false and unfounded. My role was with the Movement for Change; a noble idea of a temporary force with transformative footprints like the butterfly, that has since been derailed by forces that prioritize control over conscience, image over integrity, and manipulation over merit. Seeing the funny interests that have set in now, with respect to the crude resolve by the new United Party-UP, to appeal in repulsive acts of sycophancy, to the ruling NDC, makes me exceedingly troubled!

The ultimate betrayal however, is the breathtaking hypocrisy that has followed. The same people who campaigned with the “Movement,” lambasted the very idea of political parties and questioned their relevance in Ghana’s development, have now turned around to form one! What is even more preposterous is the rationale. In their pro-NDC sycophancy, they now openly declare their intent to destroy the NPP so they can become the other leg of the very duopoly they once condemned! Where are the principles? They certainly have none! They preach unity but practice vile deeds that sow discord and strife even amongst themselves.

This charade was confirmed when, after a meeting where Alan declared his intent to form a party; an idea I vehemently opposed, I was never consulted. My only “inclusion” was a phone call from colleagues informing me that my name had been submitted, without my knowledge or consent, as a Director of Monitoring and Evaluation for Electoral Commission’s accreditation for the new party. This is their idea of inclusion; a decision taken behind closed doors, imposing roles without consultation, treating people as mere entries on a roster to be used at will.

It is evidently clear to all who followed our campaign with good conscience and Ghana at heart, that the party that has now emerged bears no resemblance to the ideals we once fought for. Its creation, composition, and conduct reflect a complete departure from the founding principles that inspired the Movement for Change. The butterfly cannot deem itself a sparrow! It is both delusional and a costly enterprise!

How remarkable an irony we behold! The reformers have now become replicas of what they denounced! How am I expected to be a member of a new addition to Ghana’s list of political parties after campaigning vigorously, undermining the relevance and very existence of political parties in Ghana? How am I supposed to join a group of people who claimed the Duopoly was bad but now seek to destroy the NPP to become the other leg of the Duopoly? Indeed, to associate myself with it would be to endorse the very dysfunction and betrayal of purpose I have outlined above.

I remain committed to the vision of a genuinely transformed Ghana, but my loyalty lies with good conscience, truth and principle, not with any person or group that compromises them. The Ghana we seek to build cannot be founded on the same culture of exclusion, corrupt dealings in the management of campaign activities by key ambassadors of the new party, mischief and hypocrisy, and self-preservation that has crippled our national development for decades.

It was my fervent wish to use the political vehicle of Alan Kyerematen to serve Ghana to bring my God-given insight, training, and years of human development experiences, to bear on national transformation. But when the vehicle you believed in, becomes a chariot of confusion, one must alight and not complain. And so, under the circumstances and given the context provided, I hereby indicate my silence all this while, was never complicity, but restraint. And this statement is not some mere resignation, but a clarification rooted in conscience.

I am not a member of the United Party at all and dissociate myself from its strategically bankrupt, and unprincipled enterprise.

Signed,
Michael A. Sarfo-Kantanka
(Founder, The HelpZone Foundation)